Mermaid's Tears
by Fair Knightess
Summary: Hogwarts during the years of the Marauders. Sirius Black duels Lucius Malfoy and is killedgasp. Oddly enough, Sirius is found alive by the Lake. A new girl joins Gryffindor. Why does Sirius seem to remember her?


**MERMAID'S TEARS: A Sirius Black Story **

**_MY DISCLAIMER_: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own James, I don't own Sirius (nooo...), I don't own anybody from Harry Potter. At all. Unless you're thoroughly clueless, you should know who wrote those books. Kudos to J.K. Rowling--you rock for creating these characters.**

**CHAPTER I**: The Challenge

The sun shone warmly over the grounds of Hogwarts. The beautiful day meant that nearly every student was outdoors, by the Lake or in the courtyard. Four boys stood by the Lake, skipping stones over the water.

"Four skips!" crowed James, nudging Sirius gleefully. James had dark hair and glasses, with a Gryffindor tie slightly akew about his neck.

"No way, that was only three!" he protested, stepping back into a mud puddle, which splashed up at him. "Ah, no..." he muttered, pulling out his wand and vanishing the patches of mud on his clothes. He had shoulder-length dark hair, and a handsome, very prankster-ish face, and his tie was equally untidy. "What do you think, Wormtail?" he asked, turning to a small, mousy boy standing behind them.

"I--uh---erm..." he said pathetically, trailing off. He looked back and forth between the two older boys.

The thin, sandy-haired boy leaning against the tree spoke. "Oy, Padsie, you've got mud on your seat, did you know?" he said, without looking up from the heavy book in his lap. Sirius cursed and put his wand to his pants. Immediately they burst into flames. Sirius gave a screech and quickly sat down, putting out the flames. The other three, meanwhile, were bent over laughing. Sirius glared at them, then whipped around to Remus. The other boy gave him a very mischievious smile. Sirius shot him a dirty look, getting up and brushing the grass off. Behind them, a group of people came up.

"Well, well, well...glad to see you up and making a fool of yourself as usual, Black," sneered a boy with smooth, white-blond hair.

"Lucius Malfoy," snarled Sirius, and James had to hold him back to keep him from leaping at the other. Then his eyes widened, as Severus Snape, aka Snivellus, slunk out from behind the blond Slytherin.

"Snivellus," he hissed angrily, starting forward; but Remus laid a hand on his arm, at which James backed off.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Remus asked calmly.

"I'm trying to recruit a list of petitioners for a Dueling Club," Malfoy said, pulling a roll of parchment from inside his robes. "Our Head of House is in charge of it, but Dumbledore suggested it in the first place. I," he added quickly, "am only supporting this because I feel that I have much to teach Hogwarts about dueling. After all, I am a champion dueler."

"Come off it, Malfoy," Sirius barked. "I could beat you any day."

Malfoy raised one thin blond eyebrow. "Oh, do you think so? All right then, Black. Meet me here, at midnight, and we'll have a duel. No seconds," he said quickly, and Sirius pulled James towards them.

"Afraid you'll lose, then?" snickered Sirius.

"No," said Malfoy quietly. THis time there was a glint of steel in his eyes. "If I lose, then the Club is off. If you lose, you have two choices."

" What are they, then?" asked Remus.

"You either join the Club, as clean-up crew--and I mean your whole gang, Potter..."

"Or...?" pressed Remus.

Malfoy turned and looked straight at Sirius.

"Or," he said simply, "Black dies." And there was no hint of a sneer in his voice; only a steely, ice-cold note.

Despite himself, despite the heat of the sun on his back, Sirius felt the hairs on his neck rise--which usually only happened when he was in dog form. But he couldn't back down. Not now.

"Right, then," he said, straightening his robes. "You're on." He stared Malfoy down for a few seconds as the Slytherins laughed in the background, then turned away and walked back to the castle, his friends behind him.

Malfoy stared after them, his face blank and thoughtful, seemingly oblivious to his gang. Then he reached into his robes and pulled out a small vial. Inside was a dark, bubbling liquid. He examined the contents, then stashed the vial back in his robes. Raising his head, he watched Sirius, James, Remus and Peter, mere dots now, entering the castle. An evil sneer spread over his pale face.

"Fools," he hissed.

**This is myvery first fanfic. I don't know if it's any good at all--no one but me has seen it before I posted it. Please R&R and tell me if it's good. If it's not, then I'll probably cut it off right here and start a new one. THANX. **

**Click the little Review button--you know you _want_ to. **


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